Russian military: 'Space troops not yet ready to fight aliens’

Servicemen of the association of aerospace defense of the Central Military District deploy a command post with an acquisition radar of the S-300PS air defense system (RIA Novosti / Vladislav Belogrud) / RIA Novosti

Despite being called Russia’s space troops, they are not ready to deal with invasions by aliens from outer space, according to a statement by a Russian defense official.

In a surprising move, an apparently serious journalist raised
this question of extraterrestrial security during a media
conference at the Titov Main Test and Space Systems Control
Center near Moscow, Russia’s main satellite control center.

“So far we are not capable of that. We are unfortunately not
ready to fight extraterrestrial civilizations,” the center’s
deputy chief Sergey Berezhnoy explained.

“Our center was not tasked with it. There are too many
problems on Earth and near it,” he added.

Titov space center, which is run by Russia’s Aerospace Defense
Troops, controls around 80 percent of the country’s satellite
fleet, both military and civilian. It is also engaged in launches
of spacecraft and strategic ballistic missiles. The facility
located about 40km southwest of Moscow is manned by some 1,000
officers and soldiers.

Russia’s space troops, in their current form, were created in
2011 through the integration of several military branches
responsible for anti-missile defense, strategic anti-aircraft
warfare and control of outer space.

Among its facilities are an early ballistic missile launch
warning center with a corresponding network of radar stations, a
center for space surveillance, the Plesetsk Military Cosmodrome
and a strategic missile testing range in Kura.

While they may not as yet be able to deal with an alien attack,
Russia’s space troops at least have extremely effective and high
tech means for dealing with terrestrial issues and threats.